Free Books in the Public DomainMillions of titles in the public domain such as Pride and Prejudice are available for free. Learn More

Free Book SamplesDownload and read first chapters for free before you decide to buy.

Kindle Owners' Lending LibraryWith Prime, Kindle owners can read all 7 Harry Potter books in 5 languages for free - as frequently as a book a month, with no due dates. Plus, choose from over 180,000 books, including over 100 current and former New York Times best sellers. Learn More

Borrow From Your Public LibraryBorrow Kindle books from your public library and start reading on your Kindle. Learn More

Free Cloud BackupWe automatically back up your library in the cloud, so you never need to worry about losing your books. Re-download wirelessly anytime for free.

None, because it's wireless and doesn't require a computer to download content.

On-device Storage

Up to 1,400 books or 2GB internal (approximately 1.25GB available for user content).

Cloud Storage

Free cloud storage for all Amazon content.

Battery Life

A single charge lasts up to one month with wireless off based upon a half-hour of daily reading time. Keep wireless always on and it lasts for up to 3 weeks. Battery life will vary based on wireless usage, such as shopping the Kindle Store, web browsing, and downloading content.

Charge Time

Fully charges in approximately 3 hours via the included USB 2.0 cable connected to a computer. U.S. power adapter sold separately.

Wi-Fi Connectivity

Supports public and private Wi-Fi networks or hotspots that use the 802.11b, 802.11g, or 802.11n standard with support for WEP, WPA and WPA2 security using password authentication or Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS); does not connect to WPA and WPA2 secured networks using 802.1X authentication methods; does not support connecting to ad-hoc (or peer-to-peer) Wi-Fi networks.

Plus free cloud storage for all Amazon content so you never have to worry about running out of space

4GB on device for 3,000 books

Plus free cloud storage for all Amazon content so you never have to worry about running out of space

4GB on device for 3,500 books

Plus free cloud storage for all Amazon content so you never have to worry about running out of space

4GB on device for 3,500 books

Plus free cloud storage for all Amazon content so you never have to worry about running out of space

8GB on device for 80 apps plus either 10 movies or 800 songs or 6,000 books

Plus free cloud storage for all Amazon content so you never have to worry about running out of space

Dimensions

6.5" x 4.5" x 0.34"

6.8" x 4.7" x 0.40"

7.5" x 4.8" x 0.34"

10.4" x 7.2" x 0.38"

7.5" x 4.7" x 0.45"

Weight

5.98 ounces

7.5 ounces

7.8 ounces

8.5 ounces

8.7 ounces

18.9 ounces

14.6 ounces

Interface

5-way controller

multi-touch

keyboard

keyboard

multi-touch

E Ink 101

Detailed Features

Elegant, Easy-to-Use E-Reader

Lose Yourself in Your Reading
The most elegant feature of a physical book is that it disappears while you're reading. Immersed in the author's world and ideas, you don't notice a book's glue, the stitching, or ink. Our top design objective is to make Kindle disappear — just like a physical book — so you can get lost in your reading, not the technology.

Ergonomic Design
Kindle is easy to hold and read. We designed our e-reader with long-form reading in mind. When reading for long periods of time, people naturally shift positions and often like to read with one hand. Kindle's page-turning buttons are located on both sides, allowing you to read and turn pages from any position.

Never Gets Hot
Unlike a laptop, Kindle never gets hot so you can read comfortably as long as you like.

Wireless Capability

Built-In Wi-Fi
Kindle automatically detects nearby Wi-Fi networks at school, home, or your favorite café. At a hotel or café that requires a password? Simply enter the password and connect to the network. Once you have added a Wi-Fi network, Kindle will automatically connect to that network the next time you're near the hotspot.

Free Access at AT&T Hotspots
Enjoy free Wi-Fi access at AT&T hotspots across the U.S. for shopping and downloading Kindle content — no AT&T registration, sign-in, or password required.

Reading on Kindle

Adjustable Text Sizes, Font Choices
Kindle has eight adjustable font sizes to suit your reading preference. You can increase the text size of your favorite book or periodical with the push of a button. If your eyes tire, simply increase the font size and continue reading comfortably. Kindle also has three font styles to choose from – all optimized and hand-tuned to provide the best reading experience.

Custom Fonts
Kindle uses hand-built, custom fonts and font-hinting to make words and letters more crisp, clear, and natural-looking. Font hints are instructions, written as code, that control points on a font character's line, improving legibility at small font sizes where few pixels are available. Hinting is a mix of aesthetic judgments and complicated technical strategies. We've designed our proprietary font-hinting to optimize specifically for the special characteristics of electronic ink.

Faster Page Turns
Kindle now has faster page turns. We've done this by fine-tuning Kindle's proprietary waveform, the series of electronic pulses that move black and white electronic ink particles to achieve an optimal display of images and text.

Support for Non-Latin Characters
Kindle supports the display of non-Latin characters, so you can read books and documents in the translation that's right for you. Kindle displays Cyrillic (such as Russian), Japanese, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), and Korean characters, in addition to Latin and Greek scripts.

Full Image Zoom
Images and photos display crisply on Kindle and can be zoomed to the full size of the screen.

Rotate Between Portrait and Landscape Mode
Switch between portrait and landscape orientation to read maps, graphs and tables more easily.

Real Page Numbers
Easily reference and cite passages or read alongside others in a book club or class with real page numbers. Using the computing fabric of Amazon Web Services, we've created algorithms that match specific text in a Kindle book to the corresponding text in a print book, to identify the correct, “real” page number to display. Real page numbers are available on tens of thousands of our most popular Kindle books, including the top 100 bestselling books in the Kindle Store that have matching print editions. Page numbers are displayed when you push the menu button.

Carry and Read Your Personal Documents
Kindle makes it easy to take your personal documents with you, eliminating the need to print. You and your approved contacts can e-mail documents - including Word, PDF and more - directly to your Kindle and read them in Kindle format. You can also send documents to your Kindle using
Send to Kindle, available for free download at www.amazon.com/sendtokindle.

Your personal documents will be stored in your Kindle library on Amazon and ready to download conveniently anywhere at any time. You can add notes, highlights and bookmarks, which are automatically synchronized across devices along with the last page you read using our Whispersync technology.

You can read your PDFs in their native format, view them in landscape mode, or zoom in up to 300% to view small print and detailed tables and graphics. You can also convert your PDF document to the Kindle format so that it reflows like a regular Kindle book. Learn more.

Dictionary and Search

Built-In Dictionary with Instant Lookup
Come across a word you don't know? Kindle includes The New Oxford American Dictionary with over 250,000 entries and definitions for free. Kindle lets you instantly lookup the definition without ever leaving the book – simply select the word with the cursor and the definition will automatically display at the bottom of the screen.

Search Wikipedia and the Web
Kindle makes it easy to find what you're looking for. Just enter a word or phrase and Kindle will search every instance across your Kindle library, in the Kindle Store, on Wikipedia, or the Web using Google search.

Notes and Sharing

Bookmarks and Annotations
Add annotations to text, just like you might write in the margins of a book, with a virtual keyboard that appears just when you need it. And because Kindle ebooks are digital, you can edit, delete, and export your notes. You can highlight and clip key passages and bookmark pages for future use. You'll never need to bookmark your last place in the book, because Kindle remembers for you and always opens to the last page you read.

Popular Highlights
See what millions of Kindle readers think are the most interesting passages in your books. If several other readers have highlighted a particular passage, then that passage will be highlighted in your book along with the total number of people who have highlighted it. View details.

Share Meaningful Passages
Share your passion for books and reading with friends, family, and other readers around the world by posting meaningful passages to social networks like Facebook and Twitter directly from Kindle, without leaving the page. Want to post or tweet about a great new novel or newspaper article? When you highlight or create a note in your book or periodical, you can easily share it with your social network. Help your network of family and friends discover new authors and books.

Public Notes
Share your notes and see what others are saying about Kindle books. Any Kindle user – including authors, book reviewers, professors and passionate readers everywhere – can opt-in to share their thoughts on book passages and ideas with friends, family members, colleagues, and the greater Kindle community. Learn more.

Lend Your Books
Lend eligible Kindle books to other Kindle or Kindle app users. Each eligible book can be lent once for a period of 14 days. Not all books are lendable — the publisher or rights holder determines which titles are enabled for lending. For more information on how to lend Kindle books, visit our help page.

Public Library Books
Customers can check out a Kindle book from their local library and start reading on any Kindle or free Kindle reading app. Learn more.

Customize Your Kindle

Choose Your Language
You can customize your Kindle with the language you prefer. You can set your default language on Kindle to English (US and UK), German, French, Spanish, Italian, or Brazilian Portuguese.

Organize Your Library
Organize your Kindle library into collections, or categories, to easily access any book you are looking for. You can add an item to multiple collections to make organizing and finding titles even easier. For example, you can add the same book to your "History" and "My Favorite Authors" collections.

Password Protection
With password protection functionality, you can choose to lock your Kindle automatically when not in use.

Special Offers

Special Offers and Sponsored Screensavers
You'll receive special offers and sponsored screensavers directly on your Kindle. Examples of past special offers include:

• Save up to $500 on select HDTVs
• $1 for a Kindle book, choose from thousands

Your offers display on your Kindle's screensaver and on the bottom of the home screen – they don't interrupt reading.

The Kindle Store

Access the Kindle Store wirelessly right from your Kindle – search and shop the world's largest selection of books that people want to read, plus magazines, newspapers, blogs and games. We auto-deliver all your purchases in seconds – simply search, buy, and you're ready to read.

Personalized Recommendations
Kindle makes it easy to discover new titles with recommendations personalized just for you. The Kindle Store uses the same personalized customer experience you're used to across Amazon.com, matching our best recommendations to your personal reading habits.

Over a Million Books
The Kindle store contains the largest selection of books people want to read: over a million books, including over 800,000 at $9.99 or less. We work directly with publishers to get the latest bestsellers, biggest new releases and the titles most popular with tens of millions of Amazon's book customers.

Over 2 million free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books are also available such as Pride and Prejudice and Treasure Island. Learn more.

Newsstand
Shop and subscribe to your favorite magazines and newspapers such as Time, Newsweek and The New Yorker, from Newsstand. New editions are auto-delivered wirelessly direct to your device the second they go on sale.

Blogs
Stay up to date with the latest tech stories, sports results and news updates from your favorite blogs. Subscribe to popular blogs such as Gizmodo, The Onion and ESPN to receive auto-updates on your Kindle throughout the day.

Games
Take a break from reading to enjoy a selection of great games specially designed for Kindle, like Every Word and Number Slide.

Experimental Features

WebKit-Based Browser
Kindle features an experimental web browser based on WebKit to provide a better web browsing experience. Now it's easier than ever to find the information you're looking for right from your Kindle. Experimental web browsing is free.

Unlike LCD displays, Kindle has no glare

E Ink fonts are sharp and clear like real paper

Shop the Kindle Store, direct from your device

Home screen with special offers examples

Choose from eight adjustable text sizes and three font styles

Look up words with built-in dictionary

Virtual, on-screen keyboard

Outfit your Kindle from our broad selection of accessories

Whispercast for Kindle

Whispercast is Amazon's free online tool that helps your school or business manage a deployment of Kindle devices and wirelessly distribute content. Centrally manage your Kindle devices and send eBooks and documents to your students, employees, or customers with ease.

Kindle at School

Kindle excites students about reading. The same great features that help you lose yourself in a book on Kindle translate seamlessly to the classroom, helping students learn to read or study more effectively. Learn more about Kindle at school

Having been a little overwhelmed by the choices between all the new Kindles and which one to get, I ordered this new basic $79 Kindle first to take for a spin. So far, I like what I see. I also own a Kindle 3 so that's the only device I can really compare it to at this time (I think a comparison between other tablets and this Kindle is meaningless, this device is all about content and delivery):

1. Form-factor - Compared to the Kindle 3, this Kindle feels more compact, lighter and easier to hold. My hands wrap around this better than K3. Reading books for a few hours at a stretch will be easier on this device compared to the K3. It is the lightest such device I have used compared to all previous Kindles and other tablets.

2. Screen - I personally like the fact that there are no keys on the device and that keys come up on the screen when you need them. Delivers a better overall reading experience. However, navigating through the on-screen keyboard with the 5-way controller can be taxing if you need to do a lot of searching, and you might miss the full physical keyboard. I hardly search on the Kindle itself, I search for books on my laptop so this is a non-issue.

3. Price! - At $79, you can't go wrong. Compared to buying paperback or hardcover editions, you will recover the cost of this in a matter of a few months because most Kindle content is priced cheaper than print editions (and you get it instantly, and can access it wherever you are). Not to mention all the free Kindle downloads available in the catalog.

4. Display - almost the same E-ink display at the K3. No glare no reflection. You can sit in bright sunlight and read it just like a book. Page turns seem a lot faster on this compared to the K3.Read more ›

First off, I received my new Kindle this morning. I previously owned the Kindle Keyboard, but actually really didn't like the keyboard or the way the buttons were pressed together. I'm not a fan of touch screens so I bought this one.

There are a few things to know about this particular Kindle that can help you decide if it's right for you...

Here is a list of things to know about this Kindle.

1. You'll be using an onscreen keyboard with the 5-Way Controller. This is not a problem for setting up WiFi and a little writing but if you are an avid note-taker or do a lot of writing with your Kindle, you might want to opt for the Kindle Keyboard.2. NO AUDIO - If you are planning on listening to audiobooks, Mp3s, or Text to Speech on your Kindle, this is not the device for you. There is not even a headphone jack, so there is absolutely no audio support.3. 2GB! This device has 2GB of storage, which is half of all the others... if you seriously need to keep over 1,400 books or so on your Kindle, you should opt for one of the others, all of which have 4GB. I only keep a hundred or so books on mine and the rest are up in the Amazon Cloud waiting for convenient download.4. There's no 3G version but the WiFi works just fine.5. There is a shorter battery life. Amazon reports the battery life is only one month of reading, compared with the others that clock in at two months. If you are going to be away from electricity for over a month, first of all RESPECT!, second of all, you may want a Kindle that has the 2 month battery life.6. It's lighter than all the other versions. It weighs in at just under 6oz (170g). The closest competition is the Kindle Touch which is about 7.5oz.7. It has 5 buttons on the face at the bottom.Read more ›

UPDATE: December 12, 2012: I had purchased the new Kindle Paperwhite thinking it would be a vast improvement over this Kindle. Well I had mixed opinions on it. You might want to read my review of the Paperwhite here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1Z0SDFOCZ66Z6/ref=cm_cr_rdp_permBottom line is that the Kindle 6" E-ink Display is for the money an amazing product. Unless you really do a lot of reading in bed or in dark rooms, you don't need the Paperwhite at nearly twice the cost. I actually returned my Paperwhite due to all the screen issues. My review of the Paperwhite describes all you need to know.

UPDATE: September 17, 2012: New firmware is available for the Kindle. It is version 4.1.0 as I write this. It brings some notable improvements to the Kindle experience...

New features in this update include:

-Improved reading font that is higher contrast and crisper so that you can enjoy a paper-like reading experience.

-Parental Controls that allow you to restrict access to the Experimental Web Browser, Archived Items, and the Kindle Store.

-Support for books with complex layouts and formats with Kindle Format 8.

-Support for children's books with Kindle Text Pop-Up and comic books with Kindle Panel View (which allows you to read a comic book panel by panel). Books that support these features will be available in the Kindle store over the next few weeks.

-Dictionaries grouped into a collection in Home and Archived Items called "Dictionaries" for better organization.Improved table and image viewing (panning and zooming) on supported titles.

The update is available from the Kindle Support area on amazon web site.